Safety apparatus for railways



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. B. 0. ROWELL.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR R-AILWAYS.

, Patented July 9, 1895.

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(No Model.) .7 I v 2 Sheets-Sfieet 2.

. B. Ci ROWELL.

SAFETY APPARATUS FOR RAILWAYS'. V I r Patented Jilly 9, 1895.

ing the main connecting-rod in the opposite.

UNITED, ST T S PATENT OFFICE.

BENroN o. ROWELL, or BosToN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE RowEtnPoTTER SAFETY sroP COMPANY, or PORTLAND, MAINE.

SAFETY APPARATU s For: RAI LwAYs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,313, dated Ju1y 9, is 95.

Application filed December 8, 1893.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENTONjO. ROWELL, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,haveinvented a new and useful Safety Apparatus forR-ailways, of which the following is-a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which i Figure 1 isa plan, and Fig. 2 is an elevation ShOWing the best form of my apparatus. Fig. 3 is an elevation, on a large scale, of the tripping-lever and an end view of the automatic lock. Fig. 4 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the automatic lock, partly in section.

Myinvention relates to preventing atrain entering a given portion of the railway-track while another train is on that portion,being in this respect much the same as the block system described in my application for Letters Patent filed December 16, 1893, Serial No.e193,859; but is more especially adapted to stations, curves, and other sections of track, where it is especially important that one train shall not be encroached upon by other trains, and as an example of one use of my present invention I will speak in-this specification of its use to prevent the approach of any train to a station while another train is at that station, this single example being sufficient to illustrate its other uses.

My invention consists in the combination of a safety-stop for stopping a train automatically, and which is set to danger by a counterweight, with an automatic lock operated by the passage of a train to release that counterweight and thereby set the safety-stop to danger, and a connecting-rod adapted to be moved endwise to engage with a rod controlling the counterweight, so that the safetystop may be set to safety by simply moving the main connecting-rod endwise until it is locked by the automatic lock to the rod controlling the counterweight and then movdirection, thereby lifting the counterweight, setting the safety-stop to safety and holding it in that position until the automatic look is again operated, when the main con-. necting-rod is-disengaged from the rod con- Serial No.493.178. (No model.)

- as practically used at a station, as above explained, the main connecting-rod Abeing under control of some person at the station, whose dutyit is to setv the safety-stop to safety after a train has left the station, and who will hereinafter be called,'for convenience, the

operator. This main connecting-rod A is connected with ,therod a only when the lock B is in the positionshown in Fig. 5, and not when it is 'in the position shown in Fig. 2 that is, the two rods A and a are connected by an automatic lock, which is unlocked by the passage of a train over itand relocked by the proper endwise motion of rodA, this being the main featureof my invention.

When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 5, androd A is prevented from moving endwise to the left, the rod a cannot move endwise under the force of the counterweight S, acting through bell-crank S, and consequently the arms S S of the safety-stop will not be held up by the rolljS on the short arm of bell-crank S, the rods A and a being then looked together by the bolt 1) and its arm 1) of lock B, the boltb entering a hole in the flattened portion A of rod A, and. the arm I), which carries bolt 12, being connected tothe forks a of rod a by ears which are brazed or otherwise secured to the forks a but when arm I) is swung upward on its hinge, bolt b is withdrawn from the hole in the flattened portion A', and the flattened portions a and'rod a are moved endwise by weight 8' acting through bell-crank S, and the arms S S of the safety-stop are set at danger, as indicated in Fig. 2, where the safety-stop is shown as about to automatically stop a locomotive attempting'to pass over it, the safety-stop acting in the usual manner to open a valve of the air-brake when its arms S S are held up in the positionshown in Fig. 2, as will be plain without furtherf description, such a safety-stop being well known to all skilled in the art, and was is fully ex plained in Patents No.2-1Z,144, dated July 1, 1879, and No. 444,962, dated January 20, 1891 The arm b is controlled by the lever b too lip on arm 1) extending overone end of lever (2 as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4, so that when the other end of lever b is depressed by the wheels of a passing train the arm I) is swung upward, forcing bolt 1) from the hole in the flattened part A of rod A.

The operation is as follows: Starting with the parts in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, no train can pass the safety-stop, as its arms S S are set to danger, and the operator, as soon as he desires to allow a train to pass, moves rod A endwise by means of handle a and its connections with rod A, or otherwise, (for, as will be obvious, rod A may be moved by hand or automatically, this being a detail and not an essential matter,) until the flattened portion A has moved endwise far enough to allow bolt 1) to drop into the hole through flattened portions A, and rod A is then moved endwise in the opposite direction, carrying with it the flattened portion A and also bolt Z), its arm I) and the flattened portions a of rod a shifting the arms S S from danger to safety and raising the counterweight S. A train can now pass over arms S S and actuate lever 19 but that will swing arm Z) upward and unlock A from a when the counterweight S will reset arms S S to danger, and these arms S S will so remain until rod A has again been moved endwise to engage bolt 2') and drawn back to reset arms S S to safety, as above described.

It will be obvious that the details of construction may be widely varied, the gist of the matter being an automatic lock connectam aware that mechanisms are known which,

when used in connection with connectingrods, serve much the same purpose as my compound connecting'rod and its lock, as shown, for example, in Patents No. 378,306, dated February 21, 1888, and No. 490,220, dated January 17, 189 3, and I disclaim all such mechanisms.

\Vhat I claimas my invention is- 1. In combination, a trip, operated by the passage of a train; a safety stop; and 1nechanism whereby the safety stop may be set to safety by an attendant and held in position until released by the trip, substantially as shown and described.

2. In combination a connecting rod in two parts; an automatic lock fast to one of the two parts; a lever; a counterweight; and a safety stop; all the parts being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

BENTON O. ROW ELL.

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WILFRED E. Po'r'rnn, D. F. PUJNAM. 

